Horror Movie Talk

If you mess with the Wendigo, you get the antlers… Synopsis Antlers tells the story of meth cookers inadvertently disturbing an ancient evil, and the middle school teacher and student that suffer the consequences. Keri Russel stars as Julia Meadows, who has returned home to begin her first year as a middle school teacher. While dealing with trauma and guilt surrounding her childhood, she notices a student displaying signs of trauma. Jeremy Thomas plays Lucas Weaver,  the young boy that resembles a Tim Burton sketch. He is hiding the secret of his sick father and brother in his attic, who he is taking care of. Their sickness makes his father a rage filled, ravenous monster, and this is problematic for young Lucas. https://youtu.be/ng5eyOfL8qM Review of Antlers In the marketing, it heavily pushes Guiermo Del Toro’s name, but he only produced, and it was actually directed by Scott Cooper, who has mainly directed dramas before, such as Crazy Heart and Black Mass. It shows here, because the drama and internal world of the characters is front and center throughout most of the film. It turns what could be just a special effects demonstration monster movie into an actual story with stakes. I was looking forward to this movie. I wouldn’t say I had high expectations, but it definitely piqued my interest. The trailers show very little, but really sell the movie based on the performance of Jeremy Thomas. Out of all the new releases this year that I was looking forward to, this is the only one that actually delivered. This is a compelling and emotionally complex film, but it also has some of the year’s best gore and jump scares. I highly recommend it. Score 8/10 Pan’s Labyrinth The Criterion Collection Add it to your collection or rent it now. Click here to buy Get 13% Off your order at NightChannels.com when you use code HMT at checkout. Get 20% off your appointment for a soothing sound bath and tarot reading by entering code HMT at BloomingWand.com

We went and saw Last Night in Soho and came away impressed but not enthralled. This is a movie that is well made and acted but just doesn’t hold much for me to relate to. That being said, it was an undeniably good twisted thriller that uses a tried and true formula to keep the audience thrown off the scent of the twist at the end. @dgoebel00 on Instagram provided this amazing artwork. Follow him and check out his website. https://youtu.be/AcVnFrxjPjI Synopsis Last Night in Soho is about a girl in the present day named Ellie (Thomasin McKenzie). Ellie is a budding fashion designer who moves to the big city of London, where she is going to school to pursue her dreams. Coming from a small town and with a questionable heritage of mental health problems, Ellie is overwhelmed and taken advantage of in this new environment. She leaves the dorms after her roommate proves herself to the the biggest bitch I’ve ever seen on the silver screen. Ellie moves in with an elderly woman named Ms. Collins, who has a single room for rent in Soho.  When going to sleep in this room, Ellie is transported via dream into the world of London in the 60’s where she follows a gorgeous young woman named Sandy (Anya Taylor-Joy) who wants to make it big in show business and befriends a dashing manager, Jack (Matt Smith) played by Dr. Who.  But what hides behind her idyllic dream of the 60’s is a dark and dangerous side of London that’s still present today.  Will London take advantage of Ellie, or will she learn from the tragic and terrifying story of Sandy? Review Last Night in Soho is a mystery/thriller that is well-made and fun. It’s also dark and twisted with a fabulous soundtrack of solid 60’s hits and a wonderful cast of competent actors. It presents themes of bullying, human trafficking, mental illness, and revenge but it’s wrapped in such a sugary-sweet, neon-light fun show that the scares feel more like suggestions. If those themes sound like content that will trigger you, however, this will likely be a very scary movie for you.I, on the other hand, have not had to deal with much in the way of being preyed upon by men, or severe mental illness, so Last Night in Soho didn’t hit home for me. Watch Last Night in Soho Watch on Amazon Click here to Watch I can definitely appreciate that this is a well-made and thoughtful approach to a number of serious issues, but I’m not the target audience. I feel like this is geared toward women and suffers of mental abuse, but it’s so well-done that it will appeal to general audiences much more than hard horror fans. It was a little long but the length felt warranted and even necessary. If you are looking for hardcore horror, this may not be your best bet. I would steer you toward Antlers for the crazier side of horror that’s available in theaters right now. We reviewed a real stinker of a boring movie in episode 33 titled Greta and this feels like that movie done well because of the themes, setting, and characters. Score 7/10 Get 13% Off your order at NightChannels.com when you use code HMT at checkout. Get 20% off your appointment for a soothing sound bath and tarot reading by entering code HMT at BloomingWand.com

Remember how Michael Myers was burned in fire? No you don’t, shut up. He’s fine, he was just resting. This week we review Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers with special guest Bug-Z! @dgoebel00 on Instagram provided this amazing artwork. Follow him and check out his website. Synopsis 10 years have passed since the events of Halloween 1 & 2 (the first ones), and Michael Myers has awakened from a coma to escape from a prison transport. He hears that he has a niece, and will stop at nothing to kill her, because that’s kind of his thing. https://youtu.be/rfvBru3MKsg Review of Halloween 4 Halloween 4 is a Halloween Movie. It’s got Michael Myers. You should pretty much know what it is just by reading the title. You’re going to get kills. You’re going to have a stabby boy. The only difference is going to be the tone of the film, and the quality of kills. Halloween 4 goes full-on. This is the first Halloween movie where I kind of get it. Once they allow Michael Myers to poke a hole in a skull with his thumb… the series has turned a corner. Now he’s not just a guy with a knife, his hands are knives too! I enjoyed this entry a little more than the first two, but it is still limited by what it is. Loomis emphatically reminding us that Michael is not human, but EVIL, and various characters getting set up to be killed. Score 7/10 Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers Add it to your collection or rent it now. Click here to buy Get a 30 day free trial at Shudder.com with code HMT. Visit DSLaboratories.com and use code HORROR15 to get 15% off your order site wide. Check out the Revita.SOD hair growth supplements. Get 13% Off your order at NightChannels.com when you use code HMT at checkout. Mentioned in the Episode https://youtu.be/QRtqg_I3oEQ https://youtu.be/KbkNul4wQH0 https://youtu.be/9qUiAdha-1Y It’s ya boy, Bug-Z

We went and saw Halloween Kills and i was shocked by the insanity of the violence at the start and end of the movie, and bored to literal tears by the squishy, awkward middle.  @dgoebel00 on Instagram provided this amazing artwork. Follow him and check out his website. https://youtu.be/OUwVHX3242M Synopsis Halloween Kills picks up directly where Halloween 2018 left off. Spoilers, he makes it through the fire, and goes on a murderous rampage through his hometown of Haddonfield.  https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2018/10/24/halloween-2018-review/ While the residents decide to make their own stand against his evil, they do their best to try to find and kill Michael in a mob justice style coup.  Michael creeps through the town brutally killing random bystanders and homeowners.  Eventually, everyone ends up with more Michael Meyers than they bargained for. Review Halloween Kills is a cool concept that is hampered by slow-witted dialog and an unneeded morality appeal.  Who was the person clamoring for a barebones morality tale in a Halloween movie? I feel like I understand the Halloween fanbase pretty well. I respect them, and I know I’m an outsider looking in, but none of them are asking for this. The entire second and third acts of Halloween Kills are bogged down by inane dialog, cameos, and homages to previous films.  I will say this – the violence is pretty incredible. Some of the kills are so brutal and disgusting that I was impressed. I don’t think I’ve seen such incredible brutality done so well since Possessor Uncut from 2020. The kills were done so well that I actually got into them to a degree.  Watch Halloween Kills Watch on Amazon Click here to Buy or Rent Instead of a dialog driven homage-fest, why not do what Michael actually does best? Creep around the town of Haddonfield with Michael, stalking and killing his victims. Sparse music or silence accompaniment to pair with the gurgling, gasping, and screaming of defenseless townsfolk, just trying to get away. Show how evil Michael is, don’t tell us – WE KNOW! Make us gasp in awe. Make us fearful of walking through the parking lot at night to get back to our cars and drive home. It bums me out that Halloween 2018 didn’t get a hardcore follow-up, because I feel like if they had gone swung for the fence with the brutality, they could have made a movie that people spoke about in hushed tones.  Score 5/10 Get 13% Off your order at NightChannels.com when you use code HMT at checkout.

We went and saw Lamb, and I’m still wondering about what I saw. This moody and intimate Icelandic horror movie may not have a lot of scares, but it serves up plenty of dread, and will stick with you for a while. @dgoebel00 on Instagram provided this amazing artwork. Follow him and check out his website. Lamb can be found in theaters now Synopsis Lamb is about a childless couple working a farm in Iceland that discovers a unique lamb born in their barn. They take special care in raising this lamb, but something’s not quite right. You can tell because some of the other lambs have shifty eyes. https://youtu.be/hnEwJKVWjFM Review of Lamb This is a very unique movie. It’s one of the things I crave in a moviegoing experience: novelty. There has definitely never been a movie like this one. The story is very simple and spare, but somehow punches you in the gut with vague allegory. It’s almost hard to come up with what this movie is about without just describing the plot, but the themes go into nature vs nurture, seeking happiness where you shouldn’t, motherhood, loss, jealousy, and synthpop.  It is definitely slowly paced, but that isn’t to say that it isn’t engaging. It held my attention, and affected me on an emotional level. The visuals were stark but beautiful, reminding me a lot of A24’s other recent release The Green Knight. https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/10/16/the-witch-review/ If you think all of A24’s movies are pretentious garbage, then you’ll hate this movie, but if you want to see something that you haven’t before and are willing to soak in some melancholy for a couple hours, I highly recommend it. Score 8/10 Watch The Witch On Amazon Click here to watch Get a 30 day free trial at Shudder.com with code HMT. Get 13% Off your order at NightChannels.com when you use code HMT at checkout.

We watched Ernest Scared Stupid and were reminded of a simpler time when all you needed for a kids movie was a man with bizarre facial expressions and copious amounts of boogers. @dgoebel00 on Instagram provided this amazing artwork. Follow him and check out his website. https://youtu.be/ni50DLOKdZY Synopsis Many years ago an ancient evil was locked away in the earth below Briarville, Missouri and today our lovable clutz, Ernest has unleashed it upon the children. Won’t someone think of the children?  Well, Ernest did an oopsy and now he’s going to right his wrong with the help of all the kids in Briarville. But that means he will have to face the terrifying Trantor the troll! Will Ernest be able to save the kid’s souls? Will he fuck up even worse? Will children who watch this movie get more trolls than they bargain for?  Review Ernest Scared Stupid is probably the most memorable of all ten Ernest movies that have been made starring the legendary Jim Varney. There is a tried and true method for making kids movies that I think might have started with Honey, I Shrunk the Kids where the kids would build elaborate contraptions that were as goofy as they were oddly effective. This is one of those, but with the added benefit of starring a pre Jim Carrey slapstick aficionado, and goofball.  When you add trolls and a special effects department helmed by the Chiodo Brothers, apparently what you get is a horror movie made for kids that is so effective that I still remember it with glee. https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2018/12/26/gremlins-review/ Watch Ernest Scared Stupid Watch on Amazon Click here to Buy or Rent Has this film aged well? It depends who you ask. If you are talking to me, I remember this being far more terrifying and interesting. If you ask my kids they will cry and tell you that it was the scariest thing they’ve ever seen. This film isn’t for me, but it’s a cult millennial legend for a reason. It did a lot of things right, even if it’s too scary for little kids and way too boring for me. This is a fabulous introduction to horror for kids, being accessible, fun, and not so gentle that kids feel belittled or coddled. It’s got some potty humor, but honestly that’s one of it’s strong-points. Ernest Scared Stupid is a ton of family fun and an easy title to throw on for background noise or to keep the kids entertained while you have a Halloween party. Score 4/10 Get 13% Off your order at NightChannels.com when you use code HMT at checkout.

We went and saw Malignant, and It had me all turned around. I didn’t know if this movie was coming or going. Wan is an experienced filmmaker, but this film makes me wonder if he had brain trauma since Aquaman. (1:27) – Intro (5:51) – Trailer (8:42) – Synopsis (9:07) – Review (15:42) – Score (25:50) – Spoilers (1:02:17) – Make it Better (1:18:01) – Outro Malignant can be found in theaters now and streaming on HBO Max until Oct 10 @dgoebel00 on Instagram provided this amazing artwork. Follow him and check out his website. Synopsis Malignant is about an abused wife, Madison (Annabelle Wallis), who after her husband is murdered, begins to see a figure in the shadows and having visions of murders. She finds out that these murders are real and that she has been witnessing them in real time. As police investigate the crimes, they seem to be tied together and related somehow to Madison’s past. https://youtu.be/Gczt0fhawDs Review of Malignant (2021) James Wan, the director of Malignant is an accomplished horror director. Say what you want about The Conjuring, Saw, and … Aquaman? The truth is he is a competent director that has made some very enjoyable and successful movies. So much so, that entire franchises have been launched from his films. So the question is. How did Malignant happen? Is this a joke? I can only assume that Wan intentionally made a bad movie, because otherwise, the only explanation is head trauma.  There are times when it shines with pure stupid fun — mainly the opening and ending scenes — but the majority of the movie seems to have poor footing with its tone. I could see some of these terrible lines of dialogue and ridiculous plotting work in a committed exaggerated campy horror film, But foolishly, everyone is playing it subdued and straight. I sat there watching the film, bored for most of it, desperately wanting a Bruce Campbell in Evil Dead 2 type actor to bring some levity and self awareness. Nope, just performances of the caliber that you would see on your mom’s favorite c-tier CBS crime procedural. The influences are many and varied. I’m reminded of most of Wans career with elements of The Conjuring and Saw apparent, but also campy horror classics like Re-Animator and Basket Case. However, instead of taking disparate ingredients and making an enjoyable stew, we are treated more to a bachelor’s feast of unrelated stale cold leftovers eaten out of tupperware containers.  The film could have gone a number of ways to explain what is happening to Madison. It could be a haunting, a possession, a serial killer, psychic powers, etc. What it ends up being, is so dumb that you almost want to stand up and clap. I wish I could like this movie more, but the story in the middle of the film, and the characters are so boring, The ridiculous parts that I did enjoy couldn’t overcome them. Score 3/10 Buy The Conjuring Now on Amazon Click here to Buy Get a 30 day free trial at Shudder.com with code HMT. Get 13% Off your order at NightChannels.com when you use code HMT at checkout.

Just released, Horror Movie Talk presents the Midnight Mass Aftershow. We’ll breakdown each episode of the upcoming seven-part horror series by Mike Flanagan on Netflix with a companion aftershow episode. About Midnight Mass When Father Paul’s appearance on Crockett Island coincides with unexplained and seemingly miraculous events, a renewed religious fervor takes hold of the community. But do these miracles come at a price? From Mike Flanagan, the creator of The Haunting of Hill House, Midnight Mass tells the tale of a small isolated island community whose existing divisions are amplified by the return of a disgraced young man and the arrival of a charismatic priest. Subscribe Now Subscribe to Horror Movie Talk on your favorite podcast platform so that you can binge the entire aftershow on the same day that you binge Midnight Mass on Netflix. Midnight Mass Promo Poster

In the exciting conclusion to the Midnight Mass Aftershow, we cover Book VII: Revelations. We breakdown the horror and metaphysical aspects of this last episode of Midnight Mass. (0:46) – Welcome (1:51) – Opening Prayer (3:10) – Synopsis (11:02) – Sermon Synopsis In the finale, we see the resulting chaos of what happened in the church. Lines are drawn the turned and unturned, and Bev self righteously appoints herself as the leader to guide the islanders. While continuing the heavy violence from the previous episode’s finale, this final book takes a hard turn into the metaphysical as many characters confront their life choices, and their impending death. MIDNIGHT MASS (L to R) KATE SIEGEL as ERIN GREENE in episode 107 of MIDNIGHT MASS Cr. EIKE SCHROTER/NETFLIX © 2021 MIDNIGHT MASS (L to R) ANNABETH GISH as DR. SARAH GUNNING, IGBY RIGNEY as WARREN FLYNN, ANNARAH CYMONE as LEEZA SCARBOROUGH, KATE SIEGEL as ERIN GREENE, and RAHUL KOHLI as SHERIFF HASSAN in episode 107 of MIDNIGHT MASS Cr. EIKE SCHROTER/NETFLIX © 2021 MIDNIGHT MASS (L to R) IGBY RIGNEY as WARREN FLYNN and ANNARAH CYMONE as LEEZA SCARBOROUGH in episode 107 of MIDNIGHT MASS Cr. EIKE SCHROTER/NETFLIX © 2021

At this point, everything has been set in motion and we get to see what “God” wants for the island of Crockett. Listen to Episode 6 of the Midnight Mass Aftershow. (0:45) – Welcome (1:22) – Synopsis (3:37) – Opening Prayer (4:30) – Sermon Synopsis This episode starts with Erin In the boat where… stuff just went down. At this point, everything has been set in motion and we get to see what God wants for the island of Crockett. The apostles who have been chosen on the island are setting to work doing what has to be done to spread salvation to the rest of the island. We sit and watch in dread and I have to wonder, is this all part of God’s plan? Maybe he does work in mysterious ways. Maybe this is salvation. Maybe those who stand opposed to Bev and Monsenior Pruit are in defiance of God’s will.  If that is the case, would you accept the sacrament? Would you follow this God? MIDNIGHT MASS (L to R) SAMANTHA SLOYAN as BEV KEANE and HAMISH LINKLATER as FATHER PAUL in episode 106 of MIDNIGHT MASS Cr. COURTESY OF NETFLIX © 2021 MIDNIGHT MASS (L to R) KATE SIEGEL as ERIN GREENE in episode 106 of MIDNIGHT MASS Cr. EIKE SCHROTER/NETFLIX © 2021